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K-Gr 4—The 12 selections in this collection offer a winter wonderland of deftly crafted poetry, fascinating science facts, an amazingly rich vocabulary, and stunning illustrations. In the title poem, the bees are lyrically described, "Born with eyelash legs/and tinsel wings/we are nothing on our own./Together, we are One….Deep in the winter hive,/we burn like a golden sun." In "Big Brown Moose," the animal humorously chants, "I'm a big brown moose,/I'm a rascally moose,/I'm a moose with a tough shaggy hide…" Science facts about the animals' lives in harsh winter climates appear in sidebars on each spread. Sidman explores the safe places that allow fo...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

In winter, bees ("we are nothing on our own") keep their precious queen warm by massing together into a "sizzling ball." Hibernating garter snakes, safe in a cave, "'round each other twist and fold / to weave a heavy cloak of cold." Intrepid moose "shrug off the cold," while beavers retreat to their "dim oval room" to "groom, snack, kiss" between dives "in the under-ice world." Framing her twelve-poem cycle with the fall departure of tundra swans and a "Triolet for Skunk Cabbage," that harbinger of spring, Sidman exempli...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Sidman exemplifies winter survival strategies of a well-chosen sample of species. Her poems are precise, evocative, lyrical, varied in tone; fac...Log In or Sign Up to Read More